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In this report, the UN System Task Team lays out a vision for transformative change towards the future we want. The report was prepared to inform the open and inclusive consultations that are taking place in preparation for an ambitious development agenda beyond 2015.. Overview Enormous progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs. Global poverty continues to decline, more children than ever are attending primary school, child deaths have dropped dramatically, access to safe drinking water has been greatly expanded, and targeted investments in fighting malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis have saved millions. The MDGs are making a real difference in people’s lives and, with strong leadership and accountability, this progress can be expanded in most of the world’s countries by the target date of 2015. After 2015, efforts to achieve a world of prosperity, equity, freedom, dignity and peace will continue unabated. The UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to buil...

The Economist magazine has published an article (July 18th 2012) on the UNESCO World Heritage Program . I quote extensively from the article: As of this month, the following unlikely mixture of people and agencies found themselves tarred with the same brush: Liverpool City Council, the developers and municipal authorities of Panama, the Islamist rebels of West Africa and the quarrelsome bishops of some ancient Christian churches in the Middle East. They all bear a share of responsibility for the fate of places that have recently been deemed by UNESCO to be “World Heritage Sites in danger”.   During its latest annual gathering, which ended on July 6th, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (a rotating group of 21 member states) also added 26 new places to the list of locations it considers to have “outstanding universal value” to humanity. The total now comes to 962. It then named five places as “World Heritage Sites in danger”—a label that can either imply solidarity with a country, ...

Church of the Nativity This past week there was plenty of follow-up in the wake of the decision to inscribe the Church of the Nativity to the World Heritage list , and the  destruction of cultural sites in Timbuktu .   National Public radio did a story a story about the Church of the Nativity, which you can listen to here .    The Jerusalem Post offers an op-ed piece  here . Jonathan Zimmerman offers a particulary interesting piece from the American perspective in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which  you can read here .   Earlier in the week there was a brief flurry of news reports about extremists calling for the destruction of the Pyramids at Giza, but since then it has been revelead that the  source for this news was a hoax .   Yesterday Secretary Clinton reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to protecting and preserving special places reflecting cultural and natural heritage by  announcing a $200,000 U.S. grant for the World Heritage City of L...

Timbuktu sites and their damage The 36th Session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has been quite controversial. 1) Under a great deal of controversy and against the recommendations of preservation experts and religious leaders,  the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was inscribed  to the World Heritage list under an emergency provision. Palestinian officials have already stated  they intend to expand use of the World Heritage program . You can read U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion's statement about the Church of the Nativity  here . House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's reaction can be seen  here  along with an opposing viewpoint from the editors of Bloomberg News  here .  2) In Mali, a faction called Ansar Dine, which seized control of Timbuktu last week, have attacked some of the World Heritage sites in that city despite international outcry. You can read more details  here . UNESCO's statement c...